AUTHOR ARCHIVES

Sarah Mimms

Sarah Mimms is a staff correspondent for National Journal Daily, covering Congress. Previously at National Journal, she served as senior analyst for the Hotline, where she covered federal and gubernatorial campaigns in the South.

February 27, 2015
It was Democrats to the rescue -- again. A huge bipartisan coalition came together Friday night to approve a one-week funding bill for the Department of Homeland Security, preventing a partial government shutdown with just a couple of hours to spare. Nearly every House Democrat joined most Republicans to pass ...

February 27, 2015
Capping off weeks of turmoil, the Senate on Friday passed legislation to fund the Department of Homeland Security through October, just hours before a scheduled shutdown and with the House pursuing a totally different path. The chamber voted 68-31 to approve the measure, with dissenters including Sens. Marco Rubio, James ...

February 27, 2015
Speaker John Boehner on Thursday night finally laid out a plan to avert a partial shutdown of the Homeland Security Department: kick the can a little farther down the road. Yet even that may fail. With just one day left until funding runs dry for DHS, Boehner urged his conference ...

February 26, 2015
Despite conservative groups and blogs blasting Mitch McConnell's "surrender," immigration hard-liners in the Senate appeared to wave their own white flags on Thursday, putting the Senate on the edge of a deal to fund the Homeland Security Department before Friday night's shutdown deadline. With a deal to pass a clean ...

February 26, 2015
House Speaker John Boehner and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell finally have nominal control of Congress. But actually governing—together—is proving to be far more difficult. The two top congressional Republicans earned their leadership titles on the promise of competence and an end to brinkmanship, yet with just one day left ...

February 25, 2015
Democrats are worried about an ambush. With less than three days left before the Homeland Security Department shutdown, Senate Democrats have accepted Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell's offer. But they're exceedingly wary of how vulnerable such a move will make them. After huddling with their members on Wednesday, Democratic leadership ...

February 25, 2015
Mitch McConnell has handed John Boehner a near-impossible decision. After weeks of public back-and-forth with the House speaker over which chamber needed to act first, McConnell on Tuesday began to move on his own to fund the Department of Homeland Security. If it succeeds, the Senate majority leader's plan will ...

February 24, 2015
With the Department of Homeland Security on the verge of a shutdown over immigration policy, Sens. Ted Cruz and Rand Paul have been sounding the drums of war over the next big immigration battle: Loretta Lynch's nomination to be attorney general. But so far, Sen. Marco Rubio has been silent. ...

February 19, 2015
Just a few months ago, Democrats couldn't get far enough away from President Obama's immigration policy. At the behest of red-state members, leadership pushed the White House to hold off on an executive action until after Election Day, worried that it would be the noose around the necks of the ...

February 17, 2015
A federal judge's stay of President Obama's executive action on immigration could give congressional Republicans a lifeline to avoid a partial shutdown of the Homeland Security Department. But it's not clear yet that they'll take it. With funding set to lapse at the end of the month, and a House-passed ...